Photo by Christopher Evans / The RepublicanWestfield's Brendan Swistak left, celebrates with teammate Josh Blair. Swistak pitched a one-hitter to lead Westfield over St. Peter-Marian, 11-0.

Final: Westfield 11, St. Peter-Marian 0

The Bombers may have scored 11 runs in their state semifinal rout of St. Peter-Marian. But the main reason they'll face Eastern Mass. champion B.C. High Saturday night (7 p.m.) at LeLacheur Park in Lowell is because of the effort tonight from Brendan Swistak.

The senior lefthander fired a complete-game one-hitter, needing just 112 pitches to put away the Guardians from St. Peter-Marian. He retired the final 19 batters faced and 22 of the last 23. In a word, he was simply phenomenal.

The Bombers used timely hitting and old-fashioned good luck to jump on the CMass champs. Ryan Veillette has a double and a triple and scored four runs while Nick Gezotis added a three hit day. Westfield collected 10 hits and benefited from a number of costly errors from the St. Peter-Marian defense.

It was all Bombers, all the time in the state semifinal. They'll look for a similar effort Saturday as senior Jim Lorenz takes the hill against B.C. High.

Wesfield ace Brendan SwistakBombers lefthander Brendan Swistak talks after his dominating complete-game one-hitter against St. Peter-Marian in the Division I state semifinal.

Westfield's Ryan Veillette

Westfield's Ryan VeilletteBombers rightfielder speaks after Westfield's 11-0 pounding of St. Peter-Marian in the Division I state semifinal

Westfield head coach Jim Jachym

Westfield head coach Jim JachymBombers head coach, Jim Jachym, who is retiring after this season talks after his team moved to within one win of a state championship.

Top 9th --- Swistak simply can do no wrong. The first batter lines one back up the box and Swistak gets a leg on it and follows it toward first base, picks it up and tosses to Josh Blair at first for the out. In fine fashion, Swistak gets the next batter looking with an inside fastball on a full count. With their last chance, St. Peter-Marian's Randy Martin strikes out for the final out.

Bot 8th --- The Bombers add on a few more, thanks to patience at the plate and even more good luck. Cliff Laraway led things off with a single and Alec Fouche and Ryan Veilltte drew walks to load the bases. Brian Moran's grounder back to the mound sent home Laraway. Fouche scored on Steve Blair's grounder to first and Veillette scored on a wild pitch. After eight full and with just three more outs to go, Westfield leads, 11-0.

Top 8th --- Remember what I said about Swistak last inning? Yeah, same deal. Another 1-2-3 inning for the Westfield lefthander. He got Alex Karns swinging, Dan Conrad on a chopper back to the mound and Matt Ball on a cue-shot to first base. He has now retired 16 straight and 19 out of the last 20 batters he has faced.

Bot 7th --- Bombers now lead, 8-0. Steve Blair launched a deep drive to centerfield that looked to be a flyball out. But the St. Peter-Marian centerfielder apparently lost it in the lights, allowing Blair a leadoff triple. He came into score on the next pitch --- a wild pitch from Julian Concepcion, who has re-entered as a pitcher. All told, the Bombers tacked on one more run and lead, 8-0 after seven full innings.

Top 7th --- You simply cannot say enough about Brendan Swistak's effort tonight. The Bombers senior put down St. Peter-Marian in order --- yet again --- in the seventh. He has now retired the last 13 batters he has faced. After six-plus: Bombers 7, Guardians 0

Bot 6th --- A job well done by Westfield senior Ryan Veillette. The rightfielder launched a bomb to centerfield that --- like Moran's 1st-inning triple --- would have left the park had there been a fence. Veillette ended up at third with a triple and he came into score a few batters later when Landers threw a wild pitch. The throw from catcher Kurt Sabacinski beat Veillette to the plate but the Bomber snuck under the tag to give Westfield the 7-0 advantage after six full innings.

Top 6th --- Not the inning you're looking for if you are a St. Peter-Marian fan. After a four-run burst from Westfield, the Guardians went down in order with a K and two lazy flyouts. Bombers still lead, 6-0.

Bot 5th --- Just what the doctor ordered for the Bombers. Landers hit the first two batters and Brian Moran reached with a bunt base hit. With the bases full of Bombers and nobody out, on-base machine Jeff Crawford drew a run-scoring walk. Josh Blair's one-out grounder to shortstop with the bases loaded was fielded by St. Peter Marian's Matt Ball but Ball's throw home to nail the runner went wide of the catcher.Ryan Veillette and Moran scored. Nick Gezotis followed with an RBI single to the left side. All told, the Bombers scored four runs on two hits, two hits batsmen and a walk. After five full, Westfield leads, 6-0.

Top 5th --- Swistak is on cruise control. After setting St. Peter-Marian down in order in the fifth, he has now retired the last seven batters faced. A pair of flyouts and a strikeout set down the Guardians in their half of the fifth. Westfield hopes to get something going off of Landers in their half of the fifth.

Bot 4th --- Down 2-0, St. Peter-Marian elects to put recent Baltimore Orioles draftee and Louisville-bound Keith Landers to the hill. The book is closed on Guardians starter Julian Concepcion, who allowed two runs on four hits and two walks. He didn't strike out a batter.

Landers strikes out Josh Blair to start the inning and gets Nick Gezotis on a lazy liner to shortstop. Eric Liptak reached when the St. Peter-Marian shortstop couldn't make the throw after making a nice grab. After four, Bombers lead, 2-0.

Top 4th --- Three up, three down for Swistak in the fourth. He got Dan Durning to fly out, Steve Sargent looking and Julian Concepcion to fly out hard to right field.

Bot 3rd --- The Bombers strike again. With two outs, Ryan Veillette drilled a double to the left-centerfield gap. The Guardians elected to intentionally walk Brian Moran, making a force out at each base. But that didn't matter as Jeff Crawford bled a blooper to the left side, scoring Veillette from second. The Bombers now lead, 2-0.

Top 3rd --- A two-out walk doesn't come back to haunt Swistak as he comes back to strike out St. Peter-Marian cleanup hitter Frank Flynn looking with a nasty fastball on the inside half. Bombers third baseman Nick Gezotis makes a pair of web-gems for the first two outs, handling a chopper for out No. 1 and barehanding a slow roller for the second out. Westfield looks to add to its lead in the third.

Bot 2nd --- Minor harm, no damage from the Bombers in their half of the second. Nick Gezotis launched a two-out single but was left at first when Eric Liptak's liner was snagged by Guardians first baseman Frank Flynn. After two, it's still 1-0, Bombers.

Top 2nd --- First St. Peter-Marian threat averted. With two outs, Julian Concepcion singled and Alex Karns drew a walk. But Westfield's Swistak was able to get Dan Conrad to ground out to end the inning.

Bot 1st --- The Bombers break through first. Alec Fouche led off with a walk and went to second base on Ryan Veillette's ground ball out to first that ended in a minor collision with first baseman Frank Flynn. With one out and runner on second base, Westfield's Brian Moran launched a drive that would have left any park with a fence. It sailed over the leftfielder's head, scoring Fouche. Moran ended up at third base and the Bombers took the 1-0 lead.

Top 1st --- The one-out hit-batsman proved to no cause for concern for the Bombers. Starter Brendan Swistak got Matt Ball trying to bunt his way on before hitting John Feeley. After Feeley reached, Swistak retired St. Peter Marian's Dakota Krauss and Frank Flynn to get out of the inning.

7:00: One thing to note is a pair of notables on the St. Peter-Marian squad. Lefthanded pitcher Keith Landers was recently drafted in the 18th round by the Baltimore Orioles. It's still undetermined if Landers will take the full scholarship offered by Louisville or sign with the O's. Regardless, the Bombers are certainly happy he isn't on the hill to start tonight's game. Landers' teammate, Frank Flynn, may be a blast from the past for you Little League baseball fans out there in Varsity Voice land. Flynn, along with Landers, starred on the Jesse Burkett Little League team that made it all the way to Williamsport back in 2002.

6:44: It's a hot one here at Szot Park. But the sun's going down and the lights are soon to be on. Check through the starting lineups as we'll have first pitch in just a few.